08 January 2023 , 22:38
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Prince Harry’s highly anticipated interview with ITV News hit our screens on Sunday evening, as the Duke of Sussex sat down with presenter Tom Bradby.
The exclusive interview came ahead of the release of his tell-all memoir Spare, which hits shelves on Tuesday – although the book leaked on Thursday when it was accidentally released in Spain five days early.
The 90-minute programme was filmed in California, where the Duke of Sussex now lives with wife Meghan Markle and their two children.
Harry: The Interview saw the Prince go into depth and detail on his life in the Royal Family – and also saw him exchange awkward and fiery moments with interviewer and long-time friend Tom as they dissected the past decades.
Here are the slightly tense moments from the pair as they discussed the explosive claims in Prince Harry's memoir...
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Tom has known Prince Harry for more than 20 years (ITV)The Oprah interview
Tom, who has known Prince Harry for more than 20 years, raised the couple’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey two years ago, which saw the Duchess of Sussex say ‘concerns’ were raised about baby Archie's skin colour before he was born.
Tom said to Prince Harry: “In the Oprah interview you accused members of your family of racism,” before he cut in to insist: “No I didn’t. The British press said that.”
Tom looked briefly nonplussed before Harry added: “Did Meghan ever mention that they’re racist?”
Tom replied: “She said there were troubling comments about Archie’s skin colour.”
King Charles and his two sons in happier times (Getty Images)Prince Harry then said there was ‘concern’ about his skin colour, to which Tom asked if that would not be described as ‘essentially racist’.
Harry replied: “I wouldn’t, not having lived within that family.”
A 'Shakespearean tale'
At another point in the interview, Tom described the Prince’s saga with the Royal Family as a ‘sort of Shakespearean tale’, to which Harry then quipped: “You’ve probably read more Shakespeare than I have.”
Looking abashed, Tom admitted: “Well, possibly, but it’s a very well written book.”
Harry then cut in to add that he had probably not read as much as his father King Charles, before adding: “You’re probably up there.”
Harry: The Interview saw the Prince go into detail on his life in the Royal Family (ITV)Harry's 'virginity'
One of the most awkward moments of the interview came as Tom raised the headline-grabbing description in Harry’s memoir of how he lost his virginity in a field behind a pub to an older woman at the age of 17.
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Tom said: “I won’t spoil it, because there’s an awful lot of material in there. There’s you losing your virginity.”
He then joked: “Sensitive viewers turn away now,” before Prince Harry sad flatly: “It’s four lines or something. If that.”
Tom then replied: “Okay. I’m just scrubbing it from my memory still. But it’s okay.”
Tom raised the headline-grabbing description of how Harry lost his virginity (ITV)The Duke then turned the conversation on his interviewer, asking: “We can talk about you losing your virginity, if you want?”
Tom let out an awkward laugh as he said: “No, let’s not do that, let’s not go there,” before abruptly pivoting the conversation to the issue of drug-use in the memoir.
Harry labelled 'extraordinarily frustrating'
Elsewhere in the 90-minute interview special, Tom reflected on Prince Harry’s explosive accusation that his brother Prince Will physically confronted him at his London home in 2019.
The extraordinary scene was described in the memoir by Harry as William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor”.
Tom went on to play devil’s advocate (PA)Tom described the portrait of the heir to the throne as ‘harmful’, before he went on to play devil’s advocate, saying: “Now if he was sitting in the room I think he would say ‘Look, you know, the reason that we had that argument in the cottage was about kind of issues with staffing’.
“He felt that there was an issue. I think he would say he found you emotional, defensive, he couldn’t get through to you, he found it extraordinarily frustrating.”
Harry then cut in to say: “It’s quite a list – list of things, assumptions you're making but,” before trailing off.
Tom replied: “Well, I’m just saying I think that would be the counter narrative on the other side, that this isn’t the truth, that the truth is more nuanced and all the rest of it. Right? That would be the defence.”
Harry replied: “Well the truth, supposedly at the moment, has been there’s only one side to this story. Right? But there’s two sides to every story.”
Tom previously interviewed Harry and Meghan'You probably know more than I do, don’t you?'
Later in the discussion the pair discussed Prince Harry’s ongoing legal battles with publications in the British press, which saw the Duke challenge how much Tom was aware of.
Tom initially asked Prince Harry to explain his cases to the viewers, who he said would not have ‘the faintest idea’ of the court cases.
Prince Harry then said: “But you probably know more than I do, don’t you?”
Appearing surprised at the response, Tom said: “Well we – it’s a news story, we follow it.”
Prince Harry said: “Go on, you go first, as a journalist, go on,” after which Tom briefly laid out details of the three cases.
Tom asked Harry what he thought his brother would say if he were watching (ITV)A personal question
As the discussion came to a close, Tom asked Harry what he thought his brother would say if he were watching the ITV interview.
However, Harry flatly refused to answer the question and said he would not share what he would say.
Tom replied: “Okay, no, not a personal thing, let me ask you a different question,” before pivoting to ask if he thought his father or brother would watch the interview or read his memoir, to which he said he hoped they would but doubted it.